Bucs Media Musings
August 12th, 2011
There have been shakeups with the men (no women transactions to Joe’s knowledge) who cover the Bucs for a living. Joe, who one Bucs beat writer described as “an ombudsman,” likes to discuss the ways various outlets cover Tampa Bay’s favorite professional sports team, in case you haven’t noticed.
There have been three significant happenings in recent days that will impact Bucs fans in their consumption of Bucs news.
* One less paper will cover the Bucs. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has decided to not cover the Bucs with its own staff, which makes Joe chagrin in a number of ways, but this isn’t really surprising. Joe’s going to get a little “inside baseball” so bear with Joe.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, newspapers are dying a not-so-slow death, at least how we currently think of them, which brings no joy to Joe whatsoever. Joe’s an old (?) newspaper guy himself and still freelances with various papers so this trend has hit Joe hard, both personally and financially. The current 19th century model of newspapers soon will go the way of the buggy whip. Now Joe has often been asked if the Tampa Tribune, for example, is going to die. Joe enthusiastically responds always, “NO!”
Now the paper version, the 19th century version of the Tribune, and other papers, may very well die in the near future but the “Tampa Tribune” name, like many other papers, will continue to live if not thrive on the interwebs.
But as papers are losing revenue more and more each year and the current business model continues to become more and more cost prohibitive, newspapers have had to devise ways to survive, sometimes drastically. So the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, owned by the New York Times chain, has decided to focus strictly on local sports, read: prep sports.
This depresses Joe as the most underrated Bucs beat writer, Tom Balog, will no longer cover the Bucs. Instead, he will be on the University of South Florida football beat.
The Lakeland Ledger, which has dapper Rick Brown as its Bucs beat writer, also is owned by the New York Times chain. It just surprised Joe that the chain would have two beat writers (Balog and Brown) cover the team for two different papers. Joe has no idea if this will happen, it’s pure speculation on Joe’s part, but Joe suspects the Sarasota Herald-Tribune will use Brown’s Bucs copy, or use Bucs content from the Tampa Tribune since the two papers have a content-sharing partnership.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s decision to drop Bucs coverage makes it the third paper in three years to stop covering the Bucs. The Orlando Sentinel stopped it’s Bucs coverage in 2010 and the Bradenton Herald discontinued Bucs coverage in 2009.
* Charlie Campbell of PewterReport.com is leaving the publication. Campbell, truly one of the good guys, has accepted a position with WalterFootball.com and will be a senior draft analyst for the publication.Charlie has always been way cool with Joe and Joe hopes and wishes the best for Charlie. His last day with Pewter Report is today.
* Lastly, Joe stands and applauds his good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620. In case you haven’t heard, Justin has been named one of the personalities to host the Bucs pregame and postgame shows on the Bucs radio network, along with former Bucs linebacker Ryan Nece. Joe knows that Justin craved this gig and Joe is very, very, very happy for him.
Well done, Justin! Kudos, my friend!
August 12th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Props to Justin….well-deserved, and it’s great to have somebody who grew up a Bucs fan on their airwaves. I can’t imagine what a thrill it must be for him to be covering the team that he grew up rooting for.
August 12th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Newspapers are dying a not so slow death as much because of their biased liberal spin as because of the internet. Too bad for them. All they had to do was show some integrity in reporting over promoting an agenda. They made their bed, now they are reaping the rewards of their dishonesty.
August 12th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Not going to lie I had to Google “ombudsman” lol
Other than that I think Justin will do awesome with the Bucs coverage, he has a huge man-crush on them and the USF Bulls and you can hear it in his broadcasts!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
August 12th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Wow, Orlando, Lakeland, and Sarasota not covering the Bucs in their papers. More things to hurt ticket sales and long term interest in the region. Sure, you can go online and get all the info you want about any team, but the “more advanced” crowd will be affected by this.
They need to get the tickets sold so there are no blackouts. People in those areas need to see this exciting young team on TV to generate long term interest.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Dave:
The Lakeland Ledger staffs a Bucs beat. Rick Brown is the beat writer.
However, the Bradenton Herald does not cover the Bucs. At least, not with one of their own staffers.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Sorry, I meant Bradenton (since I live there) but was reading your article and Lakeland got in my head.
Either way, my point stands. The more coverage in the fringe areas of the market, the better for the Bucs and ratings and ticket sales.
One more thing:
KICK OFF IN 5 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 12th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Dave…If by “more advanced” you mean “old” then you may be right. I am 40 and have many professional friends. I work in the technology industry, but these friends consist of lawyers, medical professionals, small business owners and many more. I also have friends that mow lawns, build homes, etc. Almost all of them get their news on line. My parents age group still reads the papers, but they are not the age group that buys season tickets…My age group is. Tech savvy does not mean that a person is not “advanced”, nor does reading a paper instead of electronic format make you smarter. Look at Kindle, they are hurting the printing companies as well. MP3 hurt CD sales. The list goes on and on, this will have no effect on ticket sales.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Possibly worth mentioning that Scott Ledger who moved to 102.5 the bone is getting a pregame show on the network every sunday. It starts round 10 and runs till 1 I believe
(time of show may be a little off but it’s another show to add considering clear channel decided not to renew contract)
August 12th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Joe here,
Only newspaper editors (not necessarily current ones at all) would be so bull-headed to believe they could give away a product onlline yet think sales of the hand-held edition wouldn’t suffer mightily. …That said, the loss of nearly all classifed ad revenue (Craigs list) and loads of real estate and help wanted revenue has clobbered the industry.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Good. I hope the Tampa Trib goes under next too. Roy Cummings deserves to be out of a job for what he did to Jon Gruden.
BTW, Gruden is still raking in the money on ESPN. 🙂
I hope all newspapers go under and the liberal leaning English majors have to file for food stamps sooner rather than later.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Bucpirate:
Your post is confusing. If Ledger has a show on the network, it would be on Clear Channel since Clear Channel is the flagship of the Bucs radio network.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Other Joe here
@BucPirate — Perhaps Ledger will be too busy now to shoot Joe vicious hate mail. …Joe’s not betting on it.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Tampa Bay…Not gonna write all those a’…WTF are you talking about? The news over the years has slanted in both directions depending on what paper you are reading, or what network you are watching. The newspaper will never go away, but maybe the traditional paper that arrives on your driveway will. The press is here to keep the powers that be in check, and I hope they get back to giving us news that is not slanted to be entertainment. 24 hour news channels have caused the news to have to be competitive, so you get slants in either direction as well as sensationalized stories. By calling all of the media outside of FOX liberal shows you get your news from Rush and Glen…which BTW are entertainment not news. Before cable the news was a service that the netwioirks did to use our airwaves, now it has to turn a profit.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
@Tampa—>Baaaaaaayyyy
Wow. Quite possible the dumbest comment I have seen on this blog, ever. And that is saying something. Every word of it was just retarded. I hope you become unemployed. You “deserve it.”
August 12th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Great news.
Tom Balog is a sorry excuse for a football writer and whatever talent he may have would be better suited elsewhere. His Bucs articles were complete and utter garbage.
Besides, I don’t think he’s going to be getting any cooperation from the Bucs any time soon after that ridiculous article on Rah being a traitor…
The way Rah ended that press conference was beautiful…hahah
August 12th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Why? Roy got Gruden fired.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Joe here,
@Tampa—>Baaaaayyy (or whatever you call yourself this month) — Surely Chucky getting fired had nothing to do with Chucky leading the December collapse of 2008. Chucky beats the Raiders and he’s probably still here. … But it was Roy Cummings that got him fired.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Yep, right up there with Ian infuencing the Ruud decision…Crazy.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Congrats to the Commish!!! great Job Justin, I very happy for you and all your hard work is paying off and getting noticed!
The Sarasota Herald tribune sucks. I live here and you couldn’t pay me to read that spinning garbage. Tom Balog may have been banned behind the scenes from 1 Buc. Just speculation, just sayin, just a guess, but maybe. The New York Times is the Number 1 waste of ink in the country.
“If anyone out there can find a real story in the Herald Tribune, I will personally come to your house and cook you dinner….. or mow your grass…. but only if less than an acre.”
August 12th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
So what’s going on with Scott Ledger? He is having an unrelated Buccaneers pregame show on 102.5 or is he still part of the Buccaneers Radio Network?
August 12th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Justin Pulowski is an up and coming local sports personality in the mold of Andy Hardy and Jack Harris were in the late 70s, and how Steve Duemig was early/mid 90s. Personally, I wish Justin was the Morning host instead of the shock jock there now.
Pulowski does his homework, and was always the most knowledgeable guy in the Ron and Ian show.
This should be excellent radio this year. Congrats JP, and FGU!
August 12th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I can barely type after laughing so hard at Tampon Baaaaaaay’s ridiculous comment. Yeah, a writer got Gruden fired, sure buddy. Some advice to you: take it easy on the funny potion.
August 12th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Tribune is already going into the coffin, don’t think they even bother offering delivery in Pinnellas anymore due to lack of interest.
I get the Times delivered every day, mostly because I don’t like bringing my laptop into the bathroom (if you catch my drift).